RCP’s Sean Trende likes Scott Walker’s chances in 2016

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was in Iowa last night, sounding an awful lot like a presidential candidate. As the Des Moines Register reported,

“We need to be more optimistic, we need to speak in terms that are more relevant, and I think we need to be more courageous,” Walker said during a speech at the Polk County GOP’s Robb Kelley Club dinner. “Optimism, relevance and courage – I think they’re the three keys to success in 2014, in 2016 or beyond.”

I think he’s running. But could Walker actually win the nomination?

Sean Trende, senior elections analyst for RealClearPolitics and author of, “The Lost Majority: Why The Future Of Government Is Up For Grabs And Who Will Take It,” likes Walker’s chances.

“The fashionable pick is Marco Rubio,” Trende said, “and I certainly see why.” But he added, “I’ll go ahead and say Scott Walker, just to be a little bit contrarian — because he’s really someone who checks off the boxes a little bit more. He’s got executive experience.”

The problem with senators is that they have voting records to contend with, Trende said, before adding that, “Scott Walker is more of a blank check who can kind of modulate himself a little bit for whatever the national and party’s mood happens to be for 2015.”